Bush's War on Iraq: Was it Just for the Photo Ops?
Submitted by John Stauber on
Paul Krugman asks "why is the failure to find any evidence of
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U.S. Government
Counterterrorism and Risk Management Expert Takes Over In Iraq
Submitted by Laura Miller on
A former State Department counterterrorism expert and crisis consulting CEO will step into the fray in Baghdad. Reuters reports L. Paul Bremer is replacing retired general Jay Garner as the top U.S. civilian official in postwar Iraq. Between 1986-89, Bremer served as President Ronald Reagan's ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism, "a post that made him responsible for crafting U.S. policies to combat terrorism." After leaving the State Department, Bremer worked at Kissinger Associates, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's consulting firm.
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All the President's Lies
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Other presidents have had problems with truth-telling," write Drake Bennett and Heidi Pauken. "But George W. Bush is in a class by himself when it comes to prevarication. It is no exaggeration to say that lying has become Bush's signature as president." They detail the gap between words and deeds in Bush's policies on education, health and the environment. (Unfortunately, the article is inaccurately titled. Bennett and Pauken caught a few of the president's lies, but certainly not "all" of them.)
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The Secrets of 9/11
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks," report Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, "administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks.
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How Bush Spun Iraq: It's Not Lies, It's Empahsis
Submitted by John Stauber on
Paul Krugman notes that, " 'We were not lying,' a Bush administration official told ABC News. 'But it was just a matter of emphasis.' ... Does it matter that we were misled into war? Some people say that it doesn't: we won, and the Iraqi people have been freed. But we ought to ask some hard questions - not just about Iraq, but about ourselves. ... Thanks to this pattern of loud assertions and muted or suppressed retractions, the American public probably believes that we went to war to avert an immediate threat --just as it believes that Saddam had something to do with Sept.
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Road To War Paved With Disinformation and Falsehood
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The case for invading Iraq to remove its weapons of mass destruction was based on selective use of intelligence, exaggeration, use of sources known to be discredited and outright fabrication," The Independent writes. "A high-level UK source said last night that intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic were furious that briefings they gave political leaders were distorted in the rush to war with Iraq. Quoting an editorial in a Middle East newspaper which said, 'Washington has to prove its case.
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Propaganda Nation
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"As Americans, it's hard for us to see the roots of anti-Americanism," Nancy Snow, author of Propaganda Inc., told the Orange County Weekly. "We don't hear a lot about imperial power, but in a lot of the world the U.S. is seen as a major imperial power -- militarily, economically and culturally. We keep saying we need to get our message out, but often the world is saying, 'We get your message; we hear it all the time.' ... We need to have our voice in the world but also to understand that ours is not the only voice. Right now, the world sees us as the big megaphone."
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George Bush, the 9/11 President, Plots His Re-Election
Submitted by John Stauber on
President Bush's advisers, led by Karl Rove, are "planning a sprint of a campaign that would start, at least officially, with his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, a speech now set for Sept. 2 [2004]. ... Mr. Bush's advisers said they chose the date so the event would flow into the commemorations of the third anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. ... The strategy ... is intended to highlight what Mr.
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Pentagon Deals Out "PR Play of the Week"
Submitted by Laura Miller on
PR Week's "PR Play of the Week" goes to the Pentagon's limited edition playing cards, which the trade publication described as "part troop diversion and part Most Wanted poster." The cards features the pictures of the of 55 top members of the fallen Iraqi regime. "The deck's unveiling in and of itself would have amounted to a smart PR move, as the reporters stationed at the briefing center have grown restless in recent weeks from the perceived lack of real information and news coming from [Brig. Gen. Vincent] Brooks' daily briefings," PR Week writes.
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Saddam Did 9/11 -- The Big Lie Tactic Works Again
Submitted by John Stauber on
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels observed that "the bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." The Big Lie technique has worked well in Bush's war on Iraq. The New York Times reports that "organizers of the antiwar movement lament how well the administration argued that there was a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq, playing on Americans' residual anger and fear after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
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